Texts

During the last three years, I have used a sculptural theme within three different contexts. I have worked with paper, video and bronze castings. My pieces have been exhibited at Brändström & Stene gallery in Stockholm, 2003, and at Uppsala Art Museum, 2005. One other piece has also been permanently installed at Linköping University Hospital since September 2005, commissioned by The National Public Art Council. The shape of the sculptures made of paper, entitled Dark Currents, is inspired by origami; they are to be seen as pretentious and monumental sculptures made out of fragile materials. The title Dark Currents stands both for the visible and invisible currents that exist within nature and in man kind. I also imagine the origins of these works as visual and tensional meditations between the body and the human mind. The aesthetic and the aspect of beauty, which for me is equal to integrity, is also an important part of the work. The video piece which is shown on a screen folded in three parts, experiences the same pleated and folded shape as the sculptures, like a transformation between different states of conditions. From paper and wax to fire, smoke and ash. Here, the aspect of time is important. The sculptures commissioned by the National Public Art Council entitled Wallflowers, materialises yet another step in the path of transformation, where I dipped the paper in wax. At a later stage, it was burnt out of its mould and transformed into a bronze casting. Here, I play with opposites as light and heavy, beautiful and threatening. The most important subjects that inspired me during the making of these works were the origins of shape, content, and the process of manufacturing. The title Wallflowers also signifies and characterises the ambivalence of these hanging sculptures. During my time at Iaspis, I will work on a project that I have named Ariadne and the atomic No. 79. This project is based partly on the Greek myth about the thread that helped Theseus to find his way out of the labyrinth, but also of the scientific fact that you can get a 2000 metre long golden thread out of just one gram of gold. Katrine Helmersson, 7th of July 2006